1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to information technology. More particularly, it relates to electronic mail (Email) and attachment management with respect to Email.
2. Background of the Related Art
Electronic mail (“email”) has become common with everyday life. With the advent of the home computer, and proliferation of personal computers (PCs), the ability to send and receive emails at any time is now possible, particularly with the use of a wireless phone device including an appropriate email application.
An email often includes one or more attachments. An email attachment is a file sent along with an email message. If the attached file is encoded, transmitted, and decoded properly, the receiver of the email can open the file and view the document in its original form. In MIME, the standard format of email messages, a file is attached to an email message by encoding both the original message and the file to be attached in a multipart message.
FIG. 4 shows a conventional method of attaching a file to an email, and routing of the email with attachment to a recipient via the Internet.
In particular, as shown in FIG. 4, an email end user 402 drafts an email message to a recipient 408, and attaches a file to the email (e.g., a JPG image file, a WAV movie file, etc.) As is known, the addressed email with attachment is forwarded to an email server 404 associated with, e.g., the user's service provider.
The email server 404 determines the internet address of the intended recipient 408, and routes the email with attachment appropriately to the recipient's email server (which may be the same email server 404, or may be a different email server in an entirely different carrier's and provider's network.
Existing email technology limits the types and sizes of attachments to a given email message. To overcome this conventionally, a user must learn other forms of file sharing, e.g., uploading the attachment manually to an FTP server or web based file sharing systems. To do such an upload, a user must typically zip or otherwise compress or break up their attachments into multiple emails and hope that the recipient mailbox does not become full.
Another conventional technique allows a user to register at a website based upload service, and upload any/all attachments to their account at that website based upload service. For instance, existing websites and services such as X:Drive (http://www.xdrive.com) allow a user to log into the website based upload service, and upload one or more files to the upload service. The upload service provides a link address that accesses the uploaded file(s). Subsequently, the end user logs out of the upload service account, returns to their local email application, and drafts an email addressed to the recipient 408 including a textual link to that file to other users. Most times the user must manually type in the link, leading to possible error in transcription. In any event, this conventional method requires active instruction from the user, and at least two separate functions to be performed by the user.
While effective, such existing email attachment technology includes severe limitations inherent in conventionally sent email attachments. For instance, different rules from different email systems and organizations will likely apply. Moreover, size limits may vary between the sending email server and the recipient's email server. As a result, users often must resort to other techniques and systems to transfer large files.
Another disadvantage is that email attachment transfers are not secure as email is not encrypted by default.
There is a need for a simpler, more efficient method of sending one or more email attachments.